Parnes: Marking 200 years since the British set Washington afire

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By Janet ParnesGuest Columnist

Milford Daily News

By Janet ParnesGuest Columnist

Posted Aug. 24, 2014 at 12:40 AM

By Janet ParnesGuest Columnist
Posted Aug. 24, 2014 at 12:40 AM

» Social News

"They won’t attack Washington City? There’s nothin’ here!" President James Madison would have said that to anyone in mid-August 1814. His point? The Nation’s Capital consisted largely of government buildings and arms were stored outside the City.

The War of 1812 had been raging for two years; the fighting had taken place north of the city. As such, Washingtonians barely noticed the British warships off the Virginia coast, even when the Fleet doubled in size, to 51 ships, the night of Aug. 16. Convinced the unprotected Capital was safe, Madison stayed with his troops at the Canadian border.

However, on Aug. 19, 4,500 British soldiers disembarked in Maryland and advanced north. Terrified Washington residents crammed into wagons and left town. Dolley Madison was among the last to leave; the 300 or so militiamen, brought in to protect the city, had already fled.

On Aug. 24, British troops stormed Washington City, torching the government infrastructure including the Capitol, Library of Congress and War Department buildings. When the soldiers entered the newly decorated White House it is rumored they stopped, reluctant to destroy something so exquisite. Then they saw a table set for the dinner Dolley had planned for that evening. The soldiers ransacked the kitchen, feasted sumptuously and then torched the national home.

The British reduced the federal government, physically, to piles of flaking black timbers. Some suggested relocating the Capitol to its former home, Philadelphia. However, that might show capitulation.

Instead, Washingtonians banded together and re-erected the government, building by building. The White House was the last to go up, eight years after the invasion.

The British figured that setting the government’s physical structures afire would smother the country’s will to fight. Instead, the ploy only inflamed our forefathers’ and foremothers’ resilience and resolve to march forward, undaunted.

Character portrayer Janet Parnes lives in Millis. She brings American heroines out of their kitchens and onto the stage. Visit www.RoyalTeaParties.net; See her videos on YouTube.